An extension agent in India: Solomon's travels continue

Solomon (middle) with third host family -- Sanjeev and Geeta Nayyar.

Editor's Note: Tara Solomon, K-State Research and Extension family and consumer sciences and 4-H extension agent, has given The Tribune permission to reprint some portions of her blog to share her experiences with readers. She is currently on a Rotary Study Exchange in India. Following are comments from this past week's travels.

Jan. 17 -- Polio vaccinations ... a highlight!

Awww. I loved doing this! I could have done it all day. Rotary plays a big part in preventing polio across the world. India has now been case-free for 12 months. We gave vaccinations to youngsters . . . no needles . . . two drops. Loved it!

People waiting in long line for cancer treatment at AIIMS Hospital.

Jan. 17 -- A heart-breaking experience.

Today we visited AIIMS Hospital and specifically toured the cancer center. Here, we met a Rotary ambassador scholar, Anna Schumacher, from Minnesota. She was great to visit with and put me to shame on her future goals. She graduated and worked for a while and is now studying international economics and environmental sciences in India.

Her long-term goal is to become governor of Minnesota. It was great to talk to an American, and she shared an experience of the day before . . . she was pick-pocketed by six women. Anyway, that is not the reason for this post. AIIMS is large, but not nearly large enough. People come from all over to get treatment here. It is government run and free for those who can not afford to pay. The cancer center really is a forerunner in its research here, and they are embarking on heredity cancer research, which has not been done much before in India. For the outpatient clinic, people often sleep overnight to stay in the long line, waiting to be seen. The medical campus, as a whole, sees 75,000 patients a day.

Tara Solomon gets ready to administer polio vacination to young Indian child.

The infrastructure cannot hold all of the people. It is built for about 5,000 patients and sees about 40,000. For the cancer side, the waiting period is approximately 25 days. They see 200 patients a day and should really only be able to see 10 people a day.

The cancer center is trying to target preventable cancer. For example, on the female side, they need basic hygiene/safe practices education in the villages before they can even start educating women on annual checkups or vaccinations.

We also toured Apollo Hospital, which is in the private sector, where I learned a lot about the health care system and will share later.

Jan. 23 -- Center for handicapped children and vocational training.

We traveled a little bit outside of the main city to see this center that Rotary sponsors. I have heard our new friends talk about "slums." I don't know if they would consider this part a slum, but it is a less affluent area. This center is a school for both handicapped kids and adults. The kids did a program for us about their country with the upcoming Republic Day.

The adults shared with us how great it felt to now be able to write their names, and they performed a traditional song and dance. The school can not house too many students at one time. They do have a small computer center. I enjoyed the opportunity to interact with these kids.

Jan. 23 -- My third host family.

I can't believe it, but I am actually already leaving my third family. I have so enjoyed this family. There is much love and humor here. The parents are Sanjeev and Geeta Nayyar . . . and guess what, Geeta graduated with degrees in home science. She now teaches fashion design at South Delhi Polytechnic for Women. She attended Lady Irwin College intially, has a master's degree in home science as well, did a one-year course in education (which she needed if she wants to teach) and a one-year course in fashion design. Sanjeev is a chartered accountant which is equivalent to a CPA. The study for this is quite extensive; he had to do a three-year apprenticeship and study as he went for the exam. Only 5 to 7 percent pass the exam. His son is in the same field and lives here with his wife. I also was able to meet their daughter and her husband, who live in a neighboring town. We had great conversations and a lot of interaction with this Rotary club. They were kind enough to let us rest a little bit.

These people enjoy a good time, and more than once I have been told, "You must be a good girl." I have included several pictures, including one dinner party where everyone danced. They said they do that often. These people work hard but also know how to relax and have fun. One gentleman told us that Americans "can't even take time to have a cup of tea, or it will mess up their whole day's schedule!"

Jan. 23 -- Talking about my lifestyle and agriculture.

This is fun! Of course, I love to talk about my family and my home. Sometimes I get more questions than others. All of the time, it seems my lifestyle and home is hard for people here to fathom. The amount of land that I and our family have is hard to grasp, and often people say they would love that. Of course, cost of land in Kansas is going to be much different from New York and New Delhi. Here, real estate is sold by the square meter. I often give the the population number of Chanute and the also of my hometown, Yates Center. One lady said, "If you only have 10,000 people, does everyone have a big a house?" and "How can you have any shops with that few people? There is no one to buy anything."

I met a gentleman yesterday who was quite curious about our way of life. Please don't think they are making fun of it; they are genuinely interested and just trying to understand. It is very foreign to them. Anyway, this man had been in a big city and in the states and saw a museum or a show or something that depicted a cowboy. He wondered if there was still anything like that. He talked about seeing them in movies as a kid. Anyway, we got connected, and he was fascinated to learn that there still was that kind of lifestyle. Of course, he asked me if they had hats and pistols, too. I told him many wore cowboy boots and hats or caps but no pistols. We talked about cattle and animals. Again, he was very interested and asked how we cared for them. He asked if we had to wash them every weekend. He said he would really love to see it, and I told him if he ever came back to look me up and I would show him the heartland. I am often asked how close my biggest city is and what cities I have been to. (Many of my hosts have seen more big cities in the U.S. than I have.) I told one lady I went to Las Vegas but didn't love it other than the rodeo. She couldn't believe there were still rodeos, and she wanted to see one.

Jan. 24 -- Maude.

This is the name of an exchange student I met. To me, she is a rock star. She was in our group picture at the handicap center. She is in 11th grade and is from Quebec. When she came, she knew very little English (she spoke primarily French). Now, she speaks English well and some Hindi. She came in September and will leave in May, I believe. She lives with Rotarians as well and goes to school. Maude is definitely embracing this experience. She tells us we need to ride in an autorickshaw for the experience. She has requested to live in a village for a week. You go girl! (I would love to get out of the city and see this . . . don't know if I would survive a week, though.) We did see a small village right here in the city, huts and all. Had a great time visiting with Maude.

Jan. 24 -- The Indian "no" does not mean "no."

I am still adjusting to this. You have to say "no" about three times before it is a true "no" here. The more they love you, the more they feed you, and we have had to learn how to say "no" three-plus times. This is probably why we ate way too much our first week. They keep offering, "Are you sure?" "Just try." "Please take some."